Question the right of gay people to be left alone to live their lives and you're a celebrated hero.

Question the lack of sensible gun safety laws and you get fired from your job and even receive death threats.

Duck Dynasty's Phil Roberston candidly explained to GQ magazine why the LGBT community are sinners. A&E Network suspended him and then reinstated the duck call tycoon after right wing religious zealots started screaming about Robertson's free speech rights.

Dick Metcalf, a respected, long time columnist for Guns & Ammo magazine and a diehard gun rights advocate penned an opinion suggesting that, just maybe, some regulation of firearms would be a good idea.

Not only was Metcalf summarily fired, he began receiving death threats from readers. I wouldn't be surprised to learn Roberston, a spokesman for Mossberg guns, or one of his oddball offspring were among those who threatened Metcalf's life.

No conservative had any concern for Metcalf's First Amendment rights. Nobody on the right questioned why one of the most influential voices in the gun world was silenced. That's because double standards abound among conservatives.

For example, President Obama was most definitely born in the United States to an American mother but many on the right still insist he's not a citizen and thus shouldn't be president.

Sen. Ted Cruz was most definitely born in Canada to an American mother but the very same conservatives say Cruz is American through-and-through.

See what I mean?

So what awful things did Metcalf write that got him banished from Planet Firearms?

"The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads, 'A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.' Note carefully: Those last four words say, 'shall not be infringed.' They do not say 'shall not be regulated.' 'Well regulated,' is, in fact, the initial criterion of the amendment itself."

Exactly. But, as I like to point out, facts frequently elude conservatives and very often enrage them, especially if they're armed.

Some 90 percent of Americans including gun owners say universal background checks on all gun sales make perfect sense. But the National Rifle Association said no to that and threatened lawmakers for even entertaining the idea. It should be noted that, in the wake of the Columbine massacre, even the NRA was in favor of background checks.

Alas, the obvious finally dawned on Dead Eye Dick Metcalf who clearly believed that given the stature he enjoyed, his ideas on the subject would be given polite consideration by G&A readers.

I could have told him not to bother, to self-censor because the gun industry, for which the NRA tirelessly works, would not be pleased.

Sure enough, after the parent company of Guns & Ammo received calls from two gun makers threatening to drop all advertising in the magazine unless Metcalf was disappeared from its pages, the columnist's free speech rights were extinguished without so much as a fare thee well from the right wing.

That's because many conservatives only care about their rights and not the rights of those with whom they disagree.

They'll tell you the Constitution is etched in stone. In reality, conservatives regard it as a flexible document intended only to support their rights and to be used against those who want guns regulated, or those who don't believe corporations are people, or those who believe a woman has the right to choose, or think gay people deserve the same rights as all Americans.

Kevin: The religious right, especially the religious right gun whackos are as you have so eloquently stated are TWO FACED. They condemn the behavior of the LGBT community but then will say, "God will decide". Which is it? It seems the religious wingers would be a lot better off if they kept their opinions to themselves then people like me would not be calling them TWO FACED whackos. If God is all knowing, let him decide and just shut up.

Your fellow blogger, Chris Sanchez could very well be at the head of the class for two faced religious whack jobs. He derives permission from the bible for he and Phil Roberstson to be un-christian like. I called him out on this recently on his blog and he rather quickly deleted his posts. That's the old cut and run when anyone points out a glaring weakness in their argument.

Kevin, thanks again for being nearly the lone voice of reason in this political wilderness known as Cobb County.

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